Spartanburg man saves child, grandfather from fire

When Lonnell Ellis went to Frank Gooch Apartments on Saturday, he knew he was going to help someone, but he didn't know he would save a life.

By Felicia Kitzmillerfelicia.kitzmiller@shj.com

When Lonnell Ellis went to Frank Gooch Apartments on Saturday, he knew he was going to help someone, but he didn't know he would save a life.Ellis, 47, said he visits the apartments often to help his uncle with medications. Shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday, he was walking across the complex parking lot, taking out the trash when he saw smoke coming from unit 15. He ran up on the porch and found a young boy inside the door. He brought the child outside and asked if there was anyone else in the house, and the boy said his grandfather, George Anderson, was inside.Ellis said he has known Anderson for years because Anderson used to drive cabs with his father.Ellis ran back into the house.“I went back up, and it was so smoky and dark. I got on my knees and started screaming and calling his name,” Ellis said.The two found each other in the living room of the home, Ellis said, and he guided the man out of the house. Anderson was taken to the hospital to be checked for smoke inhalation on Saturday, and on Wednesday afternoon, he was still listed in good condition at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.“What he did was a lifesaving effort,” said Assistant Chief Bobby Culbreth of Spartanburg Public Safety Fire Division Station 1.Culbreth said firefighters arrived at the apartment complex on John B. White Sr. Boulevard four minutes after receiving the call, and everyone was out of the house.“That had to happen very quickly,” he said.The fire was started by a child playing with a cigarette lighter, which caught some bedding on fire, Culbreth said. The flames were contained to a back bedroom of the unit. When firefighters arrived on scene, no flames were showing, but there was heavy smoke, he said.

Firefighters put out the fire within 10 minutes. Ellis said it wasn't until firefighters went inside that he noticed the flames for the first time and realized what he did. That was the first time he was frightened.“We appreciate him doing it, but it's a dangerous thing to do, going in there without any equipment,” Culbreth said.But Ellis denied being particularly brave or heroic in his actions.“I just did what I felt in my heart,” he said. “I'm just glad I was in the right place at the right time.”